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TELECOMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL, AND PEACE AND CHANGE RESEARCH
Author(s) -
Burgess Guy
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
peace and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1468-0130
pISSN - 0149-0508
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0130.1992.tb00165.x
Subject(s) - exploit , computer science , field (mathematics) , work (physics) , telecommunications , information technology , information and communications technology , emerging technologies , quality (philosophy) , world wide web , data science , multimedia , computer security , engineering , mechanical engineering , philosophy , mathematics , epistemology , artificial intelligence , pure mathematics , operating system
This is a research note about the potential wonders of rapidly advancing technologies of telecommunications and information storage and retrieval. These technologies are making it possible (and affordable) to integrate the worldwide network of peace and change scholars into a single “virtual institute” in which geographic separation is no longer a meaningful barrier to collaborative work. They are also giving peace and change scholars an opportunity to enter an age in which they can have almost immediate access to any information they want! Much of what is needed to make these potential wonders a reality is already being put in place by computer hardware and software developers, university departments of computing and network services, and a relatively small core of peace and change scholars who are learning to exploit these new technologies. But these efforts are not enough. Computer technology will not significantly advance the field of peace research until a large fraction of scholars take an active role in (1) adapting available technologies to their specific needs, (2) contributing their knowledge in computer‐accessible form to the field as a whole, and (3) using the information to improve the quality of their work